Dilation/Effacement & Cervical Checks: READ THIS!

Internal cervical exams….a rant. Okay, so I know I’m about to get a whole slew of doctors upset at me – but you know what? I’m big…I can take it.

Lets start at the beginning…not the beginning of the pregnancy, but the beginning of the debate over internal exams which starts at around 36-38 weeks of pregnancy. Usually I will have a client of mine ask me sometime between 36 and 38 weeks if we’re going to check her cervix to see what it’s doing.

My response is always – WHY?

That’s a bigger question than you probably think. I’m not just asking why she wants to check as in, “what do you want to find out”….but I’m also asking why she wants to check as in, “why do you feel the need to know?”

What do you want to find out? How far dilated you are? You’re 38 weeks…what does it matter? Oooohhhh… you hoping that someone (me) could tell you how much longer you will be pregnant? I BET YOU ARE!! That is the million dollar question, and one that I wish I could find out the answer to – because I would be one rich midwife if I could!! If I had been the Divine creator and designed our bodies, I would have put that belly button to use and make it glow bright green 24 hours before labor was going to begin! When will labor begin…yes, that’s an excellent question. How very unfortunate for all concerned that that is impossible to answer. I have seen women be not dilated or effaced at all and slip into labor and have their baby hours later. I have also seen women be 7cm dilated and not in labor!! That’s more of an extreme (in 15 years I’ve only seen 3 women do that), but it does go to show that where your cervix is TODAY has absolutely no bearing on what it’s going to do tomorrow.

Okay, so it won’t tell you when you will go into labor…but surely it will tell you how your labor will go! The further dilated you are now surely means that you will have a faster and easier birth? Again, how I wish that were the case…but, again, it sadly is not. Checking your cervix now does not tell us what it is going to do, it only tells us what it has done! You might get to 4cm with absolutely no extra pressure and feeling no vita mutari (if you don’t know what that means, please see my blog post titled “vita mutari”) – and then you might feel enormous vita mutari in order to birth your baby, and it might take many many hours!

Now lets address the reason you WON’T tell me when I ask you why you want an internal exam – but the reason that is almost always universally there….the need for reassurance that your body “works”. If you are dilated, then it’s proof positive that your body knows what to do and is functional. As you probably have gathered by now, that’s just not the case.

So checking your cervix does not tell us: when you will go into labor, how fast your labor will be, or how easy or challenging your labor will be.

Ah, but checking your cervix prenatally DOES do SOMETHING!! It ruins the end of your pregnancy.

If you are not dilated yet, then that means you will begin doubting your body, feeling broken, doubting that this baby will “ever be born”. Please be reassured, the longest human pregnancy ever recorded was not “forever”. These moms who find out that they aren’t dilated leave my office discouraged, often looking beaten down and sad. What a terrible thing to feel when you are right on the cusp of having your baby! (Sometimes you’re only hours away from labor!) Your body has known how to conceive this baby, it has (without our assistance) been able to grow from a teeny tiny egg mixed with an even teenier sperm into an entire person!! A full grown baby with toes and hair and the cutest butt cheeks you’ll ever see!! It’s done this miraculous thing…and now, based on a stupid cervical check, you will lose a huge amount of faith in its ability to finish the job it started so perfectly? SHAME ON YOU! Your body is amazing, incredible, creating life! It deserves our utmost adoration…now is not the time to start doubting it! What has it done to deserve your skepticism of its perfection? Nothing…absolutely nothing!

If she is dilating…then celebration and feelings of accomplishment and she will then often run home and tell everyone that the baby is going to come at any moment! She quickly puts all of her affairs in order making sure everything is ready for the baby…and then she waits….…..…..And she waits…And I see her at the office a week later…and she’s smiling….sort of. Why isn’t the baby here? And another week goes by (that’s a long time to hold your breath) and she’s still pregnant. It is only her estimated due date (which is a whole other blog post rant for me to tackle) and yet she FEELS 2 weeks late because she thought the baby was going to come 2 weeks ago when we did an internal exam on her. This is the mom that usually wants to start talking about inducing at home because her cervix is “favorable” and because she feels 2 weeks late.

So if we hadn’t checked these women’s cervix prenatally, the not dilated mother would have gone into labor and had her baby on her baby’s good time, and the dilated mother would have gone into labor and had her baby on her baby’s good time. What did we accomplish here?

So why do so many care providers do routine internal exams on every mother late in their pregnancy? I think that’s an excellent question for you to ask your care provider…and if there is an answer, I am very curious to hear it – because I can’t think of a good reason at all!

*************************************

What about in labor?I get the call.,…vita mutari has begin and is growing, we’re ready for you to come. I head over to the family’s home and she wants her cervix checked. And again I wonder…why? Is it to prove to me that she’s in labor? I believe her…and I doubt that’s the main reason. The main reason women want their cervix checked in labor is to prove to THEM they are in labor! They can’t just let it be what it needs to be…and my question would be this – what does it matter? What you are feeling is valid and real, and what is going to be is what is going to be…

I don’t care where your cervix is when I arrive! I’m not going anywhere,…I’m here until this stops or we have a baby. The only time I can see the value in an internal exam is if labor doesn’t seem to be progressing in a way that we would expect, and I may want to check to see if there is an answer I can find (such as a baby’s head being crooked in there, for example). It is not to see how fast your progressing, really…as long as you are moving forward, I do NOT care how fast it is going! Take your time, have your baby in your own time…so long as everything is healthy. But for a normal labor, I don’t care how long it’s taking, I don’t care what your cervix is doing…I accept your labor is what it is and will take as long as it needs.

What about to see how much longer you will be in labor? I’ve seen women go from 4cm dilated to birth in an hour! I’ve also seen them take 12 hours to go from 8cm to birth. Okay, so that doesn’t help.

What about when you feel the need to push? Here is where I’m going to get the biggest chair-squirming from nurses and OB’s (and even a bunch of midwives). When you begin pushing your baby out, do I need to check your cervix to make sure it’s “okay” to push because we’ve made sure you’re fully dilated? (you know, to make sure you don’t ‘swell your cervix’) No, I don’t. Usually women don’t start pushing by all of a sudden full-on full body pushing…usually you hear a catch in their voice during the contraction, a grunt, a tightening. Rarely does this happen when she is fully dilated, it’s almost always in transition…and I’ve never seen little grunty pushes swell a cervix. What about when she does those full-body pushes? For the first 15 minutes or so my response is “YOU GO GIRL!” After that I look (externally…but LOOKING at the mother) for signs that the baby has moved down and therefore she’s fully dilated. Yes…you can actually see signs on the outside without touching mom! If she’s pushed for a while with no external signs, then and ONLY THEN will I ask if I may slip ONE finger in and see where the head is and if there is cervix I can find.

This past year I did 8 births in a row…with a total of 1 internal exam (because the mother said that with her previous babies she was “stuck at 8cm” for hours until her water was broken artificially and she felt for the last couple of hours that she was again “stuck”. This being her forth baby, I believed her…checked her cervix, she was, indeed, 8cm and we broken her water and she had her baby 15 minutes later. Did I mention that I have a HUGE amount of respect for the wisdom of mothers?? I’m always humbled by it..) I actually feel sorry for my apprentices – because cervical checks is going to be the LAST skill they master with me…because I just don’t do them very often.

Sometimes I will see a woman that loses all confidence in her body and the process for no reason other than societal anxieties and fears that everyone has given her that birth is scary and doesn’t work 32% of the time (our current cesarean rate). Sometimes that mother needs to regain her confidence and that can sometimes be accomplished with an internal exam that shows that her cervix is blossoming open. It’s wonderful to be able to help a woman regain the trust in her body! (also runs the risk of finding out she’s not as open as she hoped and having her completely give up…even though her cervix could blossom open quickly and at any moment!)

So let me summarize my position on this subject:

REASONS NOT TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE PREGNANT: it won’t tell you when you will go into labor, or how your labor will be.

REASONS TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE PREGNANT: because you want to become frustrated with your body or want to wait with baited breath at the end. (note: the one GOOD reason to do an internal is if you are looking to induce labor – that is the only medically indicated reason to do an internal exam)

REASONS NOT TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE IN LABOR: to make sure you’re really in labor, to see how much longer it will be before the baby is born, to make sure it’s “okay” for your to push.

REASONS TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE IN LABOR: to make sure (after given ample time) that things are progressing (no matter how slowly) and that there aren’t issues that need to be addressed.

And my question to you is: Why do you need external validation that your body is perfect? And why is it that I respect the phenomenal perfection that is your body more than you do?

Internal cervical exams….a rant. Okay, so I know I’m about to get a whole slew of doctors upset at me – but you know what? I’m big…I can take it.

Lets start at the beginning…not the beginning of the pregnancy, but the beginning of the debate over internal exams which starts at around 36-38 weeks of pregnancy. Usually I will have a client of mine ask me sometime between 36 and 38 weeks if we’re going to check her cervix to see what it’s doing.

My response is always – WHY?

That’s a bigger question than you probably think. I’m not just asking why she wants to check as in, “what do you want to find out”….but I’m also asking why she wants to check as in, “why do you feel the need to know?”

What do you want to find out? How far dilated you are? You’re 38 weeks…what does it matter? Oooohhhh… you hoping that someone (me) could tell you how much longer you will be pregnant? I BET YOU ARE!! That is the million dollar question, and one that I wish I could find out the answer to – because I would be one rich midwife if I could!! If I had been the Divine creator and designed our bodies, I would have put that belly button to use and make it glow bright green 24 hours before labor was going to begin! When will labor begin…yes, that’s an excellent question. How very unfortunate for all concerned that that is impossible to answer. I have seen women be not dilated or effaced at all and slip into labor and have their baby hours later. I have also seen women be 7cm dilated and not in labor!! That’s more of an extreme (in 15 years I’ve only seen 3 women do that), but it does go to show that where your cervix is TODAY has absolutely no bearing on what it’s going to do tomorrow.

Okay, so it won’t tell you when you will go into labor…but surely it will tell you how your labor will go! The further dilated you are now surely means that you will have a faster and easier birth? Again, how I wish that were the case…but, again, it sadly is not. Checking your cervix now does not tell us what it is going to do, it only tells us what it has done! You might get to 4cm with absolutely no extra pressure and feeling no vita mutari (if you don’t know what that means, please see my blog post titled “vita mutari”) – and then you might feel enormous vita mutari in order to birth your baby, and it might take many many hours!

Now lets address the reason you WON’T tell me when I ask you why you want an internal exam – but the reason that is almost always universally there….the need for reassurance that your body “works”. If you are dilated, then it’s proof positive that your body knows what to do and is functional. As you probably have gathered by now, that’s just not the case.

So checking your cervix does not tell us: when you will go into labor, how fast your labor will be, or how easy or challenging your labor will be.

Ah, but checking your cervix prenatally DOES do SOMETHING!! It ruins the end of your pregnancy.

If you are not dilated yet, then that means you will begin doubting your body, feeling broken, doubting that this baby will “ever be born”. Please be reassured, the longest human pregnancy ever recorded was not “forever”. These moms who find out that they aren’t dilated leave my office discouraged, often looking beaten down and sad. What a terrible thing to feel when you are right on the cusp of having your baby! (Sometimes you’re only hours away from labor!) Your body has known how to conceive this baby, it has (without our assistance) been able to grow from a teeny tiny egg mixed with an even teenier sperm into an entire person!! A full grown baby with toes and hair and the cutest butt cheeks you’ll ever see!! It’s done this miraculous thing…and now, based on a stupid cervical check, you will lose a huge amount of faith in its ability to finish the job it started so perfectly? SHAME ON YOU! Your body is amazing, incredible, creating life! It deserves our utmost adoration…now is not the time to start doubting it! What has it done to deserve your skepticism of its perfection? Nothing…absolutely nothing!

If she is dilating…then celebration and feelings of accomplishment and she will then often run home and tell everyone that the baby is going to come at any moment! She quickly puts all of her affairs in order making sure everything is ready for the baby…and then she waits….…..…..And she waits…And I see her at the office a week later…and she’s smiling….sort of. Why isn’t the baby here? And another week goes by (that’s a long time to hold your breath) and she’s still pregnant. It is only her estimated due date (which is a whole other blog post rant for me to tackle) and yet she FEELS 2 weeks late because she thought the baby was going to come 2 weeks ago when we did an internal exam on her. This is the mom that usually wants to start talking about inducing at home because her cervix is “favorable” and because she feels 2 weeks late.

So if we hadn’t checked these women’s cervix prenatally, the not dilated mother would have gone into labor and had her baby on her baby’s good time, and the dilated mother would have gone into labor and had her baby on her baby’s good time. What did we accomplish here?

So why do so many care providers do routine internal exams on every mother late in their pregnancy? I think that’s an excellent question for you to ask your care provider…and if there is an answer, I am very curious to hear it – because I can’t think of a good reason at all!

*************************************

What about in labor?I get the call.,…vita mutari has begin and is growing, we’re ready for you to come. I head over to the family’s home and she wants her cervix checked. And again I wonder…why? Is it to prove to me that she’s in labor? I believe her…and I doubt that’s the main reason. The main reason women want their cervix checked in labor is to prove to THEM they are in labor! They can’t just let it be what it needs to be…and my question would be this – what does it matter? What you are feeling is valid and real, and what is going to be is what is going to be…

I don’t care where your cervix is when I arrive! I’m not going anywhere,…I’m here until this stops or we have a baby. The only time I can see the value in an internal exam is if labor doesn’t seem to be progressing in a way that we would expect, and I may want to check to see if there is an answer I can find (such as a baby’s head being crooked in there, for example). It is not to see how fast your progressing, really…as long as you are moving forward, I do NOT care how fast it is going! Take your time, have your baby in your own time…so long as everything is healthy. But for a normal labor, I don’t care how long it’s taking, I don’t care what your cervix is doing…I accept your labor is what it is and will take as long as it needs.

What about to see how much longer you will be in labor? I’ve seen women go from 4cm dilated to birth in an hour! I’ve also seen them take 12 hours to go from 8cm to birth. Okay, so that doesn’t help.

What about when you feel the need to push? Here is where I’m going to get the biggest chair-squirming from nurses and OB’s (and even a bunch of midwives). When you begin pushing your baby out, do I need to check your cervix to make sure it’s “okay” to push because we’ve made sure you’re fully dilated? (you know, to make sure you don’t ‘swell your cervix’) No, I don’t. Usually women don’t start pushing by all of a sudden full-on full body pushing…usually you hear a catch in their voice during the contraction, a grunt, a tightening. Rarely does this happen when she is fully dilated, it’s almost always in transition…and I’ve never seen little grunty pushes swell a cervix. What about when she does those full-body pushes? For the first 15 minutes or so my response is “YOU GO GIRL!” After that I look (externally…but LOOKING at the mother) for signs that the baby has moved down and therefore she’s fully dilated. Yes…you can actually see signs on the outside without touching mom! If she’s pushed for a while with no external signs, then and ONLY THEN will I ask if I may slip ONE finger in and see where the head is and if there is cervix I can find.

This past year I did 8 births in a row…with a total of 1 internal exam (because the mother said that with her previous babies she was “stuck at 8cm” for hours until her water was broken artificially and she felt for the last couple of hours that she was again “stuck”. This being her forth baby, I believed her…checked her cervix, she was, indeed, 8cm and we broken her water and she had her baby 15 minutes later. Did I mention that I have a HUGE amount of respect for the wisdom of mothers?? I’m always humbled by it..) I actually feel sorry for my apprentices – because cervical checks is going to be the LAST skill they master with me…because I just don’t do them very often.

Sometimes I will see a woman that loses all confidence in her body and the process for no reason other than societal anxieties and fears that everyone has given her that birth is scary and doesn’t work 32% of the time (our current cesarean rate). Sometimes that mother needs to regain her confidence and that can sometimes be accomplished with an internal exam that shows that her cervix is blossoming open. It’s wonderful to be able to help a woman regain the trust in her body! (also runs the risk of finding out she’s not as open as she hoped and having her completely give up…even though her cervix could blossom open quickly and at any moment!)

So let me summarize my position on this subject:

REASONS NOT TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE PREGNANT: it won’t tell you when you will go into labor, or how your labor will be.

REASONS TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE PREGNANT: because you want to become frustrated with your body or want to wait with baited breath at the end. (note: the one GOOD reason to do an internal is if you are looking to induce labor – that is the only medically indicated reason to do an internal exam)

REASONS NOT TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE IN LABOR: to make sure you’re really in labor, to see how much longer it will be before the baby is born, to make sure it’s “okay” for your to push.

REASONS TO DO AN INTERNAL WHILE IN LABOR: to make sure (after given ample time) that things are progressing (no matter how slowly) and that there aren’t issues that need to be addressed.

And my question to you is: Why do you need external validation that your body is perfect? And why is it that I respect the phenomenal perfection that is your body more than you do?

Thank you for this! It is very true. I feel like this is pretty much how this whole board is---people seeking validation that their bodies work and are normal. I haven't had any symptoms of impending labor, and it's made me feel like my body isn't working as that I don't measure up. I think I need to take a step back and realize that my body is doing something miraculous, and it needs it's time to complete the task---regardless of how I feel. Thanks!

Thank you for this! It is very true. I feel like this is pretty much how this whole board is---people seeking validation that their bodies work and are normal. I haven't had any symptoms of impending labor, and it's made me feel like my body isn't working as that I don't measure up. I think I need to take a step back and realize that my body is doing something miraculous, and it needs it's time to complete the task---regardless of how I feel. Thanks!

Awesome awesome awesome! I completely agree! I am the woman who dilated and effaced early and was convinced my son was coming early! I'll be 40 weeks on Wednesday and still no baby. This really helps me feel alot better! I think we've grown so far away from what is right for our bodies and our babies and we've put our uncomfortable state ahead of them. Thank you for sharing!!

Awesome awesome awesome! I completely agree! I am the woman who dilated and effaced early and was convinced my son was coming early! I'll be 40 weeks on Wednesday and still no baby. This really helps me feel alot better! I think we've grown so far away from what is right for our bodies and our babies and we've put our uncomfortable state ahead of them. Thank you for sharing!!

Great post! This is my 5th baby and I have learned that each pregnancy is different and my body will do what it's going to do regardless of what I want. My doctor asked me at my 38w appointment if I wanted a check and I told him no because I didn't feel different then the previous week and he was cool with that answer. I think after experiencing many different birth scenarios I'm at a place where I'm focused on enjoying my kids, this pregnancy (regardless of the discomfort ), my husband and career and letting what will happen, happen without stressing about it:).

Great post! This is my 5th baby and I have learned that each pregnancy is different and my body will do what it's going to do regardless of what I want. My doctor asked me at my 38w appointment if I wanted a check and I told him no because I didn't feel different then the previous week and he was cool with that answer. I think after experiencing many different birth scenarios I'm at a place where I'm focused on enjoying my kids, this pregnancy (regardless of the discomfort ), my husband and career and letting what will happen, happen without stressing about it:).

I disagree. Maybe this is true for most women? But I understand that it in no way means labor is near or far. I know that my body "works" and I will not be pregnant forever. I'm an RN. I'm genuinely curious as to what is going on, where my body is at, just for the sole purpose of having that knowledge. And I am not saying that this post is ridiculing me for it by any means, its an interesting article. Thanks for sharing. But I don't understand why some women on here DO ridicule the ones who just want to KNOW. As far as checking when a woman is IN labor, I know nothing about the necessity of that. My field is ICU. So that may be true. Anyway, just my opinion!

I disagree. Maybe this is true for most women? But I understand that it in no way means labor is near or far. I know that my body "works" and I will not be pregnant forever. I'm an RN. I'm genuinely curious as to what is going on, where my body is at, just for the sole purpose of having that knowledge. And I am not saying that this post is ridiculing me for it by any means, its an interesting article. Thanks for sharing. But I don't understand why some women on here DO ridicule the ones who just want to KNOW. As far as checking when a woman is IN labor, I know nothing about the necessity of that. My field is ICU. So that may be true. Anyway, just my opinion!

Due today and have only been checked by my doc 1 last week. At 38&2 I was checked by my mom, l&d nurse because I was having consistent real contractions that up and stopped. Then I was checked in l&d a couple days later because I wasn't sure if waters had broken, they hadn't. At my appt that week I opted out of the check because I had just been checked. I almost opted out of being checked at 39 weeks because I wasn't dilated at all the week before. The checks suck and I'm debating on having it done at my 40 week tomorrow since it seems to be no clear sign of anything.

Due today and have only been checked by my doc 1 last week. At 38&2 I was checked by my mom, l&d nurse because I was having consistent real contractions that up and stopped. Then I was checked in l&d a couple days later because I wasn't sure if waters had broken, they hadn't. At my appt that week I opted out of the check because I had just been checked. I almost opted out of being checked at 39 weeks because I wasn't dilated at all the week before. The checks suck and I'm debating on having it done at my 40 week tomorrow since it seems to be no clear sign of anything.

I think the main issue is that some people get so obsessed about that info to the point that it is unhealthy. They then spend the last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy stressed and upset. At least that is how it seems to me.

I think the main issue is that some people get so obsessed about that info to the point that it is unhealthy. They then spend the last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy stressed and upset. At least that is how it seems to me.

I only read the beginning of this article, but I think I got the gist. Personally, I've declined my cervical exams and will continue to until I am past my due date. Just a personal choice I'm comfortable with, if other mommas want to know how things are going I say good for them. Rest assured we'll all be up with our babies eventually. :)

I only read the beginning of this article, but I think I got the gist. Personally, I've declined my cervical exams and will continue to until I am past my due date. Just a personal choice I'm comfortable with, if other mommas want to know how things are going I say good for them. Rest assured we'll all be up with our babies eventually. :)

I agree already had my baby. But when I did see people post that there 2cm and 40% or whatever I was like to myself "uh who gives a **** for one and second or doesn't mean nothing!" but anyways I liked that article! I ended up with a c/s bc my cervix wouldn't dilate past 5cm for like 10 + hours and started to swell. But whatever got my healthy baby boy that doesn't want to latch! Ughhhhhhhh! Talk about stressful! But it will get better!

I agree already had my baby. But when I did see people post that there 2cm and 40% or whatever I was like to myself "uh who gives a **** for one and second or doesn't mean nothing!" but anyways I liked that article! I ended up with a c/s bc my cervix wouldn't dilate past 5cm for like 10 + hours and started to swell. But whatever got my healthy baby boy that doesn't want to latch! Ughhhhhhhh! Talk about stressful! But it will get better!

Everything your article said was true but with that said I think most woman in the last month are so miserable it wouldn't matter if they were checked or not. I did get checked & I knew it meant nothing as to when the baby would come but it was something that represented I'm in the last month having weekly visits & getting checked. Curious as to what you think about membrane sweeping? Just being on this forum lots of moms are going to start to be envious of the moms who have their babies first or who have easy deliveries. Eventually they all come out & we don't care how or when we are all just fall in love with them when we meet them!!! It was a good post.

Everything your article said was true but with that said I think most woman in the last month are so miserable it wouldn't matter if they were checked or not. I did get checked & I knew it meant nothing as to when the baby would come but it was something that represented I'm in the last month having weekly visits & getting checked. Curious as to what you think about membrane sweeping? Just being on this forum lots of moms are going to start to be envious of the moms who have their babies first or who have easy deliveries. Eventually they all come out & we don't care how or when we are all just fall in love with them when we meet them!!! It was a good post.

if i wasn't for this app I probably wouldnt even care what the results of my cervical were. I agree with this article. I have an appointment tomorrow and I've been thinking since the last exam that i don't want to be checked this time. I just don't see the point. plus last visit she stretched me without warning or asking. it was painful. the baby will come when its ready

if i wasn't for this app I probably wouldnt even care what the results of my cervical were. I agree with this article. I have an appointment tomorrow and I've been thinking since the last exam that i don't want to be checked this time. I just don't see the point. plus last visit she stretched me without warning or asking. it was painful. the baby will come when its ready

This is great! They don't even check in the UK until they attempt a sweep or you're actually in labour because like you've been saying, it has no relevance to when you will labour. People write on here how many cm they are and how effaced they are, thinking they are so planned when it means nothing! So annoying how so many women plan everything...why you rushing? All the women on here who are not even 38 weeks and are moaning about being this cm or this % effaced and are going to get needlessly induced, grrr!Calm down, enjoy your pregnancy, otherwise don't get pregnant

This is great! They don't even check in the UK until they attempt a sweep or you're actually in labour because like you've been saying, it has no relevance to when you will labour. People write on here how many cm they are and how effaced they are, thinking they are so planned when it means nothing! So annoying how so many women plan everything...why you rushing? All the women on here who are not even 38 weeks and are moaning about being this cm or this % effaced and are going to get needlessly induced, grrr!Calm down, enjoy your pregnancy, otherwise don't get pregnant

My midwife won't do an internal until 41 weeks. I asked him.... I don't want any information out of it, I just want him to stretch my cervix a little so I can possibly go in to labour. I have hyperemesis and this is my 4th in 5 years. Needless to say I just feel like I can't do this any more :(

My midwife won't do an internal until 41 weeks. I asked him.... I don't want any information out of it, I just want him to stretch my cervix a little so I can possibly go in to labour. I have hyperemesis and this is my 4th in 5 years. Needless to say I just feel like I can't do this any more :(

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